I saw this bottle at an event. I’ve seen ones like it before, but this time I couldn’t help feeling disgust. Why disgust? Because there is no need to package that amount of water for whatever people are using it for. It won’t quench the thirst of anyone thirsty to the point of it affecting their health. For everyone else, it’s just a superficial holdover for a few minutes. No[…] Keep reading →

I think you’ll like what I wrote about food to someone who wrote: I’ve been looking for something like this [to learn to cook, in balance with my work] in my life, but what’s a good place to start learning how to cook? I’m a young single dude in his 20s, and the most I can do is boil some pasta. I work from home so time is not really[…] Keep reading →

Longtime readers know a big inspiration for how I teach leadership and entrepreneurship is how we teach acting, based on the self-awareness, emotional expression, mutual support, and ability to perform I see in great actors. Leaders and entrepreneurs can use many of the same skills, and much of my teaching practice involves using what works in teaching acting for teaching leadership and entrepreneurship, with appropriate changes. To learn the training[…] Keep reading →

The people who run Connectorcon love connecting people and they’re good at it. Every person they’ve connected me to has been valuable to me. I’m not just talking: I drove back all night after my cousin’s wedding near Pittsburgh to attend their all-day event this past summer. December 12, from 10am to 6pm they’re hosting a conference to help people connect and learn to connect better. You apply through a[…] Keep reading →

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicists, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on others, here is my take on today’s post, “How Much Can We Spend to Keep Our Dog Alive?” About 18 months ago, my husband and I adopted a dog who was seized as part of a cruelty/neglect investigation. He has serious skin issues and[…] Keep reading →

Using authority to lead may achieve your goal but it creates unintended side-effects, nearly always counter to your goals. To you personally too. This scene in Lincoln illustrates how the side-effects can last centuries. I long wondered why people resist accepting the Civil War. Why wouldn’t they celebrate ending slavery? When you motivate someone through authority, you are making them do something they don’t want to do. You’re threatening a[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA). If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] A year and a half ago I spoke at Harvard on not dwelling on decisions (and at MIT a couple days later) with my friend’s non-profit, GiveGetWin, that[…] Keep reading →

A reader wrote about a successful use of a technique I wrote about in “Someone not returning your emails? Here’s a polite tactic that gets responses.” I thought I’d share for others, since we all face the challenge sometimes. Also because I find over and over that low-level instruction, even or rather especially on low-level details leads to high-level success. Schools don’t teach these details but they matter. Hey Joshua,[…] Keep reading →

Years ago a then-friend and practicing architect visiting my apartment suggested that he could redesign it so it would look so great it would belong in a magazine. We had been friends for years. I knew about big projects he’d done. He said that he would find me a great contractor. He cofounded a company called thesweeten.com, through which we worked. Instead they delivered poor quality work with an incompetent[…] Keep reading →